Beth Crosbie wins PC nomination for Virginia Waters-Pleasantville

Beth Crosbie, a former real estate agent and sister of PC leader Ches Crosbie, has won the Progressive Conservative nomination in Virginia Waters-Pleasantville.

The PCs announced the closing of nominations for the districts on early Saturday afternoon. Conception Bay East-Bell Island MHA David Brazil also secured the nomination in his district.

Crosbie previously ran in the 2015 general election in the same district.

She lost the seat to Liberal Bernard Davis: Davis won 45 per cent of the vote, while Crosbie took 32 per cent. Then-New Democratic Party candidate Bob Buckingham took 22 per cent of the votes cast.

Davis is now Advanced Education, Skills, and Labour minister, a position he took in the November 2018 cabinet shuffle.

The Liberals have yet to call for nominations in the district. While Davis hasn’t confirmed a run for re-election to date, he is expected to run. The NDP also has yet to call for nominations.

The PCs are early out of the gate in calling for candidates for the 2019 general election. Beth Crosbie is the first person not currently holding a seat in the House of Assembly to win the party nomination for the coming general election.

While speculation is circulating about the chances of an early election call, so far Premier Dwight Ball has stated he is planning for a fall election.

PC Leader Ches Crosbie, Windsor Lake MHA, and Conception Bay South MHA Barry Petten have also both been confirmed as the candidates in their respective districts.

david.maher@thetelegram.com

Twitter: DavidMaherNL

Note: A previous version of this story stated that Crosbie is currently employed as a real estate agent. In fact, she has not held a license since November 2016.